This year, one out of every 2.4 children will be seen in the nation’s 6000 or so emergency rooms. It may be a cold, an earache, a cut, a broken bone from a fall, or a breathing problem. Whatever the illness or injury, an emergency room visit can be overwhelming and even scary to the parent unfamiliar to the inside of an emergency room.

Reading the news story, “Three year-old drowns in 4 inches of water,” is saddening. Regardless of education programs, according to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign drowning remains the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1- 4 years (the second leading cause of death among children ages 14 and under). It appears the three year-old child was trying to retrieve some toys at the bottom of a 32-gallon garbage can which also had collected about four inches of water. The child fell into the can and was unable to get out. Totally sad, totally preventable.

With drownings being the fourth leading cause of death of children under five years of age in the US, and the leading cause of death in some states such as California, Florida and Arizona, enough can not be said or read on this subject. Those statistics coming from the US Product Safety Commission leads us to believe that with all we read on swimming pool safety especially during the summer months one would think this type of injury or death would be eliminated altogether. Unfortunately it is not.

When is it okay to leave your kids in the car when running errands? When you’re just running in the store for a jug of milk? Picking another child up at preschool? When they’ve fallen asleep and they haven’t napped yet? These are some of the questions my girlfriend and I asked as we sat outside a local coffee house on a sunny Spring morning. During our visit, three people parked and went inside to get their morning dose of caffeine, all while children waited, strapped in car seats, in the warm sun. We commented to each other, how warm the cars must be getting while each parent was inside for approximately 10 minutes. Should we say something? Isn’t that illegal?

“Kids Drown as Parents Take Break,” “Four Year Old Shoots Two Year Old Sibling,” “Child Strangled By a Drawstring on a Coat.” It is shocking the many headlines in the newspaper and on television about children who died as the result of unintentional and usually preventable injuries. It leaves one questioning whether the parents or child-care provider realized the particular situation was harmful or if they have forgotten some of the common dangers our children face.

“Do you have any guns in your home?” As parents we are able to see many things that allow us to feel comfortable or discuss them with the parents of our childrens? friends. Items such as a pet or a pool. However, guns are a hidden danger, one that many people are reluctant to discuss.